preservation of primary environmental
corridors. The federal wetland regulatory
program administered by the U. S. Army
Corps of Engineers under Section 404 of
the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of
1972 provides additional protection for
wetland areas, particularly those located
within primary environmental corridors.
17. The regional land use plan recommends
the protection of primary environmental
corridors through a combination of public
acquisition and public land use regulation.
While outright acquisition provides the
greatest assurance of long-term preserva-
tion, many of the regulatory measures
described in this chapter, including gen-
eral zoning, floodland zoning, shoreland-
wetland zoning, state administrative rules
governing sewer extensions, and the fed-
eral wetland regulatory program, serve to
protect primary environmental corridor
lands from urban encroachment. Areas
encompassing 94,300 acres, including
45,600 acres of surface water, representing
31 percent of the total primary environ-
mental corridor area were publicly owned
and permanently protected in 1985.
Through joint state-local floodplain and
shoreland-wetland zoning and federal
wetland regulation, another 113,000 acres,
or 38 percent of the total primary environ-
mental corridor area, were protected from
inappropriate development. In addition,
state administrative rules governing sani-
tary sewer extensions help to protect
upland corridors located within planned
sewer service areas, which encompass
16,400 acres, or nearly 6 percent of all
corridor lands. The statutory basis for this
protection is relatively narrow, however,
and relates only to potential adverse water
quality impacts. In total, then, about
223,700 acres, representing about 75 per-
cent of the 299,600 acres of primary envi-
ronmental corridor lands in the Region,
were fully or partially protected from
inappropriate development. It should be
noted that the aforementioned regulatory
measures may be supplemented by the use
of lowland and upland conservancy zoning
districts imposed on corridor lands
through county and local comprehen-
sive zoning.

Taken together, the foregoing inventory findings
and analyses revealed that there has been
significant progress in the Region since 1964 in
adjusting community plans and land use regu-
latory ordinances to reflect the more rational
regional development pattern recommended
under the adopted regional land use plan. This
progress is most evident in the reduction in
residential zoning in outlying rural towns in the
Region; in the increased application of floodland
zoning and other conservancy zoning to protect
important elements of the natural resource base,
particularly the regional primary environmental
corridors; and in the increased application of
exclusive agricultural zoning to protect prime
agricultural lands and the attendant reduction
in the use of "nominal" agricultural districts
which allow low density residential development
in addition to agricultural and open space use.
At the same time, it should be recognized that
much still needs to be accomplished in terms of
adjusting local plans and land use regulatory
ordinances in accordance with regional develop-
ment objectives.
First, continued efforts are needed to bring the
amount of land allocated to residential, commer-
cial, and industrial uses under local zoning more
into accord with actual demand. Despite the
decrease in the amount of land zoned and
available for residential, commercial, and indus-
trial use since 1972, the Region remains over-
zoned for these uses. With full implementation of
existing zoning district regulations, the land
area devoted to commercial use in the Region
would more than double, the land area devoted
to industrial use would triple, and the land area
devoted to residential use would increase by
about two-thirds. As previously indicated, at the
rates of population and employment growth
anticipated under the intermediate regional
growth scenario, it would take about 200 years
to fully utilize all of the proposed additional
commercial land, about 215 years to fully utilize
all of the proposed additional industrial land,
and about 230 years to fully utilize all of the
proposed additional residential land. Overzoning
for urban uses can lead to premature develop-
ment, creating scattered, incomplete neighbor-
hoods far removed from existing urban service
areas, and may generate serious and costly
environmental problems.
Second, strip commercial zoning, that is, the
zoning of strips of land abutting arterial streets

263